


For the First Time

by Graduation_1



Category: October Gale
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort/Angst, Drama, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Family Drama, Sex, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 19:37:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10906086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graduation_1/pseuds/Graduation_1
Summary: October Gale Film Fanfiction StoryThe story will follow the plot of the film but there will be some slight changes as the story progresses. She is a junior intern doctor and has recently just lost her father. To escape the craziness of her life to properly grieve him, she decides to leave Toronto and go to her parent’s old cabin in the woods near Georgian Bay. On her second night there, she finds a wounded man collapsed in her living room. Little did she know that this encounter would change her life forever.





	For the First Time

**Author's Note:**

> The characters names are William Grant and Claire Kilpatrick. This story is based mostly on the film October Gale, although I made some minor plot changes to the story. Also, I have taken inspiration from the recent obsession I have with the actor Boyd Holbrook and I have replaced the actor Scott Speedman with Boyd for the story. I hope you all enjoy my small piece of work. Should be more to follow!

For the First Time 

The trees were so green. Greener then she last remembered. The trees always looked different up here she thought as she drove down the empty road, surrounded by nothing but scrubs and wildlife. Trees totally untouched by the pollution of the city, nothing up here but clean fresh air. This was exactly what she wanted, to just get away. Get away from everyone and everything. This was long overdue. The trees and scrubs were nothing but a blur as she whizzed down the road, trying to get to the marina as quickly as possible. She wouldn’t be content until she was on the open water. On her lake. On her father’s boat. 

Dad. She felt her heart constrict for a second. The feeling was always the same. It just seemed to creep up on her when she wasn’t aware, when she let her guard down and became consumed with old memories, happy times. Memories of him and her on their boat. On their lake. It was their way of coping after mom had left. He would drag her out when he felt she was frowning too much, he always said with a laugh. Sometimes Claire thought that he was the one frowning more than her and he just couldn’t admit it. She couldn’t sometimes remember what her mother’s face looked like. It had been that long. So long since she passed. So long since she felt her mother’s warm hands in her hair, trying and failing to control the unruly brown mess of curls. 

Claire pulled herself out of the dreams and realised she was coming up on the turn for the marina. She felt a sense of relief mixed with trepidation. She hadn’t been back to the cottage since the accident. She just couldn’t face it. Her uncle Peter, who lived nearby, would occasionally check in on the house and he had been up there recently, checking to make sure it was still standing in his words. She remembered how he used to try and crack jokes on the phone, it was his way of trying to pry later on. 

“How are you holding up kiddo”, he sighed down the phone after his usual round of jokes only managed a small laugh from her. “I’m doing ok uncle Pete really. Seriously you don’t have to worry all the time. I’m a big girl.” Claire was very fond of her uncle Peter. He wasn’t anything like the pristine uptight side of her mother’s family. They came from good old money, her grandfather a world renown surgeon.  
She did have great time for them, but found herself never truly fitting in with them. While she had to attend dinners at her grandparents’ house frequently as a child, she always preferred the laid back, average joe feel of her father’s family. She loved nothing more than being outside up to her ankles in the mud playing and discovering. Her dad and uncle Pete were very close and he often went up to visit him for fishing trips and Claire was almost always by their side tagging along for the trip.

“You may be older now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t worry about you. How are things at home? Is the hospital busy?”  
“It’s going okay, the house is still standing. How’s Sam? Her due date must be coming up soon?” she asked. Her uncle was the type of man she thought who would never marry. An internal bachelor for life. Average joe kind of man who was married to his hunting rifle and sports. Then one day she received a call from him that he was engaged. He met Samantha while out on the water of course and apparently, it was love at first sight. Never mind that she was seventeen years his junior. But hey who was she to judge? Maybe it was real love. She had only met Samantha once recently, when her and Pete came to Toronto for her father’s first year gone anniversary and Claire felt guilty for previously doubting the legitimacy of their relationship. Claire could see how genuine she was. It was obvious to anyone how much in love they were. For a moment, she was jealous. Jealous of how in love they seemed. 

“Yeah she’s nearly there. Three more weeks and the kids gonna pop out. Can’t wait.” He seemed so excited and happy. Claire smiled. She was so happy for her uncle, he really deserved this piece of happiness. After the phone call ended, in which she had to assure him several times that she was capable of opening the cottage by herself, she could handle it she told him, she was finally on her way to the little island. She was looking forward to just completely shutting herself away for a while. No phone, no emails to answer, nothing. Just her and the peace of the woods. 

 

 

It looked different. That was Claire’s first thought as she pulled up to the dock and began to disembark. The footpath that lead up to the house was covered in green overgrown weeds and moss. The barks of wood serving as the outline barely visible. The place looked slightly dishevelled, as if it had not been taken care of in a while. I guess uncle Pete was being a bit slack she thought to herself as she grabbed her suitcase and started walking up towards the house. Then again with the baby on the way, she didn’t blame him. 

She slowly advanced up to the door, leaning down to get the spare key hidden under the old plant pot and found herself pausing just before she opened the door. She leaned into the door, taking deep breaths to calm the tears that were beginning to burn her eyes. Suddenly she felt overwhelmed. She hadn’t been back to the cottage since well before her father’s accident. It must have been nearly four years by now she thought. Her father absolutely adored this lake house and would spend as much time as he could up here. She tried to prepare herself for being around his things. 

She took a deep breath and composed herself. This was why she was here. She needed closure. And she wouldn’t find it back in Toronto. With this in mind, she put the key in the door and slowly walked inside. It was dark in the kitchen; the blinds were pulled down so she left the door open to let some light in. The house smelled dry and stale, as if no one had lived in here for years. She walked through the kitchen to the front hallway and she stopped. She stared at the wall mounted with pictures. Pictures of their family, of them and him. She didn’t realise how much she missed his face until she saw him. He looked so youthful, smiling and laughing. The pictures varied of ones with her as a child playing outside, to pictures of her parents and she zoned in on one in particular. Her parents wedding day. They looked so beautiful. Her mother in her simple white dress and her father in his white shirt looking so handsome. It was no fanfare at all; their wedding. A simple ceremony beside a beach with them driving off in her father’s old priceless red corvette while her mother was three months pregnant with her. 

She knew there was a lot to do with the house before she could relax and unwind so she tore herself away from the pictures to walk into the living room; her favourite room. The room had her father everywhere. His clothes were thrown beside the open fireplace, his watch lay on the side table beside the window and his famous chessboard was moved to the coffee table, where their previous game had been paused, waiting to continue on. She took a deep breath and decided she had to clean. She grabbed one of the storage boxes kept in the spare room and got to work. 

She grabbed the clothes lain on the chairs and the ground and put them in the box. She picked up all of the sweets that lay all around, she picked up the various papers and files that had been left lying around and put them away. By the end of the morning, she had the entire house cleaned from top to bottom and she felt she could finally sit down for a minute. She remembered she promised to call her uncle when she arrived and she went to call him. After their brief conversation, she started to notice the cold setting in and decided she needed a fire. She grabbed her jacket and walked outside to grab some firewood. Luckily her uncle thought ahead and had cut up a fair amount of wood blocks that should do her over well until the end of the month. She grabbed as much as she could carry and went back inside to start the fire. 

After dinner, she laid down on the couch beside the fire and just watched the flames as they moved up and down. She took a moment to just think. She was glad to be away from work and be able to relax for longer than a few minutes. She was glad she was able to open up the cottage by herself and now she was here. She had no idea how long she would be here. Nor did she care. She was done making plans for a while, she wanted to just be for a while. 

The following morning, she woke up and headed down stairs to make some breakfast. Eggs and toast sounded about right. She grabbed the warm woolly grey cardigan that hung on the stairs and made her way to the kitchen. She realised as she entered she had left the groceries out all night and nearly everything had spoiled apart from the bread and the eggs. Damn it hell she thought. Just my luck. She knew a trip to town would be needed. Trouble was town was about a forty-minute boat ride away. She ate her breakfast quickly and dressed, eager to make the trip to town as quick as possible.

 

She had made the trip to town, had her groceries got and was now on her way back to the island. What could go wrong? The boat apparently. It suddenly decided it no longer wanted to run and it broke down in the middle of the lake as she just twenty minutes’ shy of reaching the cottage. She tried to restart the engine herself, pumping it several times but to no avail. The day was getting on and the cold was starting to set in, she knew she had to call for help. She just hoped he had his radio on. “This is Claire, Claire Kilpatrick. I’m having trouble with my boat. Over.”  
“Hey Claire, how are you? Didn’t know you were up here.”  
“Ed I’m having trouble with my boat, I’m two clicks west off the marina, just past Guffery Point.”  
“Ok I’m on my way.”  
She immediately felt better knowing she wouldn’t be stuck out on the lake all night. At least I won’t freeze to death she thought. She put the radio back in its place and sat waiting for Ed to save her. 

 

She waved to Ed goodbye as she walked up the footpath back to the house. Ed had quickly looked over the boat when he arrived but couldn’t immediately figure out what was wrong. He told her he would drop her back to the cottage and get to work on the boat as soon as. No more than two days he promised. Claire wasn’t too worried about the boat being out of action, she knew her father always kept another rowing boat beside the house on hand just in case of emergencies. She walked over to it as she approached the house to check it out, she pulled the tarp off the boat and took out some of the planks of wood that lay inside. It appeared to be in good condition, no cracks or holes. She grabbed some of the rope that lay loosely next to the boat and brought it down to the dock. She then dragged the boat down and pushed in into the freezing water and then secured it to the dock. She felt safer knowing that she had the boat in case she needed it. 

Thirty-five minutes later, she had her dinner eaten and the fire lit in the living room. The house felt warm and inviting and she was so glad to be able to rest and unwind. After dinner, she went to the couch with a book and began reading it. 

She didn’t even realise she had fallen asleep until a particular loud clap of thunder woke her followed by a quick flash of blue. There must be a storm coming she thought. She noticed the fire was almost to embers now so she quickly grabbed a few small wood logs and threw them on. She sat down beside the window and stared outside. The beautiful multi-coloured beginning of sunset she had fallen asleep watching had long disappeared and was now replaced with a very dark angry looking sky with clouds quickly rolling in that looked fit to burst any second with heavy rain. Claire felt an uneasy feeling beginning to unsettle in her stomach, she couldn’t put her finger on it, she just felt nervous and anxious about being at the island with a storm approaching. She did have a radio that was linked to the nearest houses and the local police station in case of an emergency. She tried to use this information to calm herself down but she still felt uneasy. 

Sometime later, she didn’t know how much time had passed, the storm had started to advance quickly and now heavy rain battered against the window and loud claps of thunder went off every few seconds. She began to think of maybe grabbing a few candles in case the storm knocked out the lights, when the lights suddenly flashed. That was enough incentive for her and she quickly ran upstairs to grab some of the candles that lay around and brought them downstairs. She placed them in the kitchen and also the living room. She went back to the couch and stared out the window to the sky as it lit up every few minutes with flashes of blue lightening. 

It was so quiet, she almost missed it. It sounded like a bang. It wasn’t thunder. She strained her ears and stared out the window trying to see anything. Nothing. Maybe it was the thunder. She looked over at the basket next to the fireplace and realised she had run out of wood logs. It was only eight o clock, she wasn’t ready to go to bed just yet. She was afraid to go outside but she knew she needed the logs. With reluctance, she grabbed her rain jacket and put on her heavy boots that sat beside the back door.  
Outside the thunder was getting louder and the rain seemed to fall harder. She wondered if she should bother going out at all but she needed to stop freaking herself out.  
She was on a small island, out in the middle of a lake; there was no one or no houses around for miles. She pulled her hood up, grabbed the flashlight and unlocked the door. The cold hit her face as soon as she opened the door. The bitterness of the cold mixed with the iciness of the rain hit her face hard. She pulled her hood over her head and walked out, closing the door behind her. She walked the few yards to the side of the shed where the wood logs lay and began to fill the wheelbarrow that stood beside it. As she was loading them in, she thought she heard that bang again. She paused what she was doing and turned towards where she thought she heard the noise. It sounded like it was coming from the dock. Maybe it was the boat knocking into it. She wasn’t sure and rather than be wondering for the rest of the night, she decided to go and investigate it. 

She grabbed the flashlight and walked towards the dock. She carefully walked down the steps and the closer she got, the more she could make out what was causing the noise. There was another boat. She didn’t recognise it, she didn’t think it was Ed’s boat and as far as she knew, there was no one else around here for miles. As she stared at the boat, she saw something that made her move closer. Was that….no way. There in the middle of the boat was blood. And lots of it, it covered the side of it. It looked like someone had crawled over the side to get out. She realised she was not alone on the island and that someone was clearly badly hurt. She turned around and ran back to the house. 

As she approached the front door, she saw it was open, left slightly ajar and that there was a blooded hand print on it. The wounded person was inside and she knew they needed her help. She pushed her fear aside and walked in. She turned to her right, the kitchen was empty. She turned to her left and walked towards the living room and as she turned the corner, she saw a man lying on the ground. He appeared to be in a lot of pain, he was grunting and dragging himself along the floor. She gasped out loud and quickly ran over to him. She knelt down beside him and very carefully put her hands on him. 

 

He appeared to flinch at first but then let out a pained grunt. She spoke softly to him, telling him it was alright and gently pushed on his shoulder to get him to turn towards her. He complied and turned over. She immediately noticed the huge amount of blood that stained his left shoulder and suspected he had been shot. His wound was badly bleeding and he was grunting in obvious pain. She leant over him and pulled back his heavily blood soiled t-shirt to reveal what she initially suspected, a gunshot wound. As she observed his wound, she noticed that the bullet had not gone clean through and was still inside him causing great pain. 

Her medical training immediately kicked into gear and she realised that she would have to remove the bullet herself with no proper medical equipment or proper pain relief for him. She had to go in with her hands literally. She reassured him and got up to go fetch the things she needed. As she got up to leave, she felt him grab her arm. “No, please don’t go, don’t leave me.” He begged clearly delirious with pain. “I’ll be right back ok, right back.” she assured him as she got up and ran to the kitchen. As she ran towards the kitchen, she could hear his grunts of pain begin to get worse.

In the kitchen, she tried to grab whatever supplies she could find, she grabbed the scissors and looked under the sink to see if the old first aid kit was still there-it was! She grabbed the red bag and ran back to the wounded man. She immediately got into doctor mode and threw her jacket off. She held the scissors and cut his shirt up to the neck and put it to the side. She pushed his denim shirt to the side and lent over him to access his wound. The bullet wound was small, but he was bleeding out bad and fast. His grunts of pain were getting worse and his breath was very laboured and fast. She needed to get the bullet out as fast as possible. 

“Ok alright, calm down, calm down, breathe.” she reassured him as she got up and ran back to the kitchen to grab a basin and some sterile water she knew was kept underneath the sink. She grabbed a towel from the bathroom and ran back to him. He was still lying in the same position as before except he appeared to be passed out. Probably from the pain she figured. She had seen victims come to the ER with bullet wounds several times and they all had almost passed out from the extreme pain before the pain relief took effect. 

She rolled up her sleeves of her red plaid jumper and leant over him to check his pulse; he was still alive. His forehead felt hot and his pupils appeared to be okay. But she needed to act fast now. She grabbed the two bottles of sterile water and poured them into the clear bowl beside his head. She placed her hands inside and started to soak them, wiping them of any bacteria. She knew she had to be careful, she would be putting her hands into his shoulder, they had to be clean. She placed the scissors she had previously got into the bowl to sterilize them also. She grabbed the medical tape from the kit and began to cut them down into strips and placed them on the side of the bowl. The packet with the sterile bandage was tore open and placed beside his head. 

She took a moment to gather herself and placed her left hand on his forehead again and the right one to check his pulse on his neck, just to make sure he was still breathing. His eyes flashed open and closed several times, so she knew he was still conscious. She took a deep breath and placed her fingertip at the site of the bullet wound and slowly began to work her finger inside. She managed to get the top of her finger inside before he jolted up and gasped in pain, grabbing her hand. “Let go, let go, its ok” she sternly said to him as he slowly laid back down still gasping in pain. She slowly started to ease her finger in deeper, her brow furrowed in concentration. She thought she could feel the bullet, so she quickly grabbed the sterile scissors and inserted them into the wound, trying to pry the bullet out. She was aware that he was breathing even harder in pain, so she was trying to work as quickly as possible. 

She finally felt like she had the bullet and she eased it out of him, pausing to really look at it, before tossing it aside and grabbing the sterile bandage and placing it on the wound. As she placed some of the pieces of tape on the bandage, she watched as he appeared to lose consciousness. She sat back on her ankles and took a deep breath, she willed her heart to calm down. She knew he needed painkillers. She sat up and moved to the bathroom, raiding the cabinet and grabbing a bottle of painkillers and walked back out to the living room where he lay. She grabbed two tablets and placed her hand under his head, slightly lifting his head and encouraging him to take the tablets. He complied and as she placed his head back down, he appeared to finally pass out. 

 

For the first time since she found him, she sat back and studied his profile. Man, he was something to look at she thought to herself. He had a face that appeared tanned, like he spent a lot of time out in the sun and he had some slight stubble on his face that made him appear more mature. He looked no more than thirty-five she guessed. His age didn’t matter though, he was handsome, she bet he got any girl he wanted. She remembered his eyes, they were bright blue like the colour of the ocean. Gorgeous she thought. She dragged her eyes down his neck to his exposed torso. He went to the gym she thought as she admired his well-defined physique and he was clearly a fan of tattoos, he had several all over his torso and on his arms. He appeared to have a tattoo of a lion on his right arm and one tattoo in particular caught her eye. A girl’s name was tattooed on his side rib, Emily. She wondered who Emily was. He didn’t look to be wearing a wedding ring, maybe he had a girlfriend. Of course, he did she thought, he was insanely handsome. 

She pulled herself out of her ogling of him and decided to see if he had any I.D on him. She stuck her hand into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his wallet. She took out what appeared to be a drivers licence and held it up against the light. She scanned over the I.D and took notice of the information, his name was William Grant, from Calgary, Alberta. She snapped herself out of her trance, berating herself for ogling after him when he was near death and passed out on her floor. She got up and grabbed the soft down blanket that lay on the couch nearby and draped it over him. 

 

Sometime later, she was sitting on the couch next to the fire and she just stared at him lying on the floor. His wound had stopped bleeding and he didn’t wake since. She had checked his temperature and pulse since and they appeared normal. She was glad. The last thing she wanted or needed was to have some random stranger die on her floor. She broke her stare away from him and looked at the bullet that lay on the ground beside his body. Her mind started going crazy. Who had shot him? Or better yet why did somebody shoot him? Was he dangerous? Was he on the run or something? That made her uneasy. 

 

Maybe he was a dangerous person, someone was clearly after him. Otherwise why was he shot? Claire tried to process what she was thinking and she decided it was better to be safe than sorry and ran upstairs and grabbed her father’s gun that he kept hidden under the floorboards and grabbed the locked box that the shells were kept in. She went back downstairs with the gun and shells in tow and sat on the chair beside the window. She watched him sleep. He was clearly still in a lot of pain, even while sleeping, he was constantly moving and sometimes she could hear small grunts of pain from him. She pulled her legs up and sat back in the chair. It was going to be a long night. 

 

Later on that evening, Claire decided to go back outside and grab the firewood she had earlier discarded when she heard the noises. The fire was nearly gone out and the evening was only getting colder. As she had sat on the couch, she couldn’t bring herself to fall asleep. She was too afraid the man in front of her would die and she wanted to know he was still alive. Finally, she talked herself in to go going out to get fire wood when she noticed the fire almost down to embers. Outside the rain was still falling down hard and the wind had picked up harshly and she could feel herself nearly getting blown away at one point. 

She had no idea how long she had been outside but it must have been for a long time because when she walked back into the house with some firewood in hand, she was met with the handsome stranger staring right at her. She didn’t know what to say. They both just stood staring at each other for a few seconds. It was him who finally broke the silence. “I was just looking for some aspirin” he said quietly still staring at her. “Who said you should take aspirin?” she replied back, putting the wood blocks on the ground and moving slowly into the kitchen. She walked over to the kitchen table and grabbed the bottle of painkillers that she had left there and tipped out two tablets. “Here take these, should take the edge off.” She said as she placed the tablets in his hand. He reached his hand out and gratefully took them from her, their hands lightly brushing. 

 

The air in the room was tight and felt extremely awkward as they just stared at each other. “Red sky in the morning, sailors warning, right?” he said as glanced out the window as the storm raged on. “Yeah I guess so.” Claire’s father used to say the same thing all the time she remembered. He always said it with that smirk of his she thought. She slightly shook her head and zoned back in when she heard him speak. “I’m William, Will” he said as he gazed at her. Claire seemed slightly taken aback. Only a few hours ago, this man lay half dead on her living room floor, bleeding out from a gunshot wound and now they were talking as if they had just met on the street. Strange wasn’t the word.  
“Claire.”  
He seemed to lighten up at this new information and for a second she could almost feel the air change in the room as they stared at each other. She finally broke the silence.

“Your bleeding again.”

 

“Almost done.”  
Will hissed at she poured some alcohol on his wound and began cleaning up the area for a new bandage to be applied. With all of his moving around, he ripped open the small stiches she had applied previously to him. She tipped some alcohol onto a bandage and wiped the area clean one last time. As she worked, she could feel him staring at her when she wasn’t looking at him. He would look away if he thought she saw him. His staring made her blush and he seemed to notice. Claire willed herself to stop behaving this way. As far as she was concerned, this man was no different than a patient she had attended to back home. 

Another particular sting of the alcohol had him jerk and hiss loudly as it bit into his wound. She placed her left hand on his chest and held him there. “Just relax, relax.” she assured him. He took a deep breath and nodded at her while sitting back on the table. “Just stay still, I’m nearly done ok.” 

He nodded and gripped the back of the dining room chair with his hand hard, clearly still in a lot of pain. She placed the new bandage on the wound and decided to ask a question that was burning on her tongue. “How did you find me?” she quizzed as she started covering up the wound. He paused and looked at the ground. She got the feeling that he didn’t want to tell her but she wasn’t having any of it. She wanted to know what was going on. He shrugged “you were the only light I could see” he continued looking at the ground. “What happened?” she asked staring at him. She couldn’t understand why he was being so vague, it was hardly the time for him to be not so forthcoming with information. “Some men attacked me, don’t worry about it.”  
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”  
He didn’t answer her, he simply continued staring at the ground. “Do you own that boat?”  
His eyes finally left the ground and he looked up at her. “I borrowed it, I’m sure they won’t mind, I’ll return it soon.” He replied.  
“Are you from here, do you live close by?” she enquired as she finished up.  
“Sort of yeah” he replied looking away towards the living room.  
As she worked, she noticed the lights beginning to flicker, it appeared the storm was beginning to get worse. She finished up putting the last of the medical tape on the bandage and looked back at his face. He appeared to be thinking hard about something. She needed to know what was going on and so she tried again to get some new information from him. “Who shot you?”  
“I told you who shot me, just let it go” he said shaking his head at her. She couldn’t believe he was being so flippant about it. He had just nearly died in her house, the least he could do was offer her an explanation. Instead he was acting like a bit of a jerk. She had enough of it.  
“Look I fixed you up, you’re not going to die. You need to leave as soon as the storm clears ok.” She said as she started to gather up some of the medical supplies. He looked up at her, surprised. “It’s fine, I can leave now. Can you give me a ride to the highway?” he said as he closed his eyes in clear discomfort of having to ask in the first place. 

 

“No I can’t do that.” He stared at her, clearly disappointed by her answer. He nodded and stood up to his full height, grabbing his shirt. “Fine, well can you point me in the direction of the highway and Il be gone.” She couldn’t believe what he was saying. Did he even know where he was? “No, there is no highway. We’re on an island. There’s a storm coming and it’s going to be bad. And you can’t go out on the water, if you fall in the water, you’ll freeze to death.”

“Alright fuck it, I’ll take my boat.”  
“You’ll die in five minutes in that little boat.” She said as she rolled her eyes. He didn’t appear to heed her advice and started to put on his blood-stained shirt. He fiddled with the watch on his wrist, and took it off. He handed it to her.  
“It’s worth something-take it.” He held the watch out to her and she didn’t take it. “No, I can’t take that.” she said as she stared at him. He rolled his eyes and continued to hold the watch out in front of her, refusing to take no for an answer.  
“You patched me up, you saved my life. You didn’t have to do that. I don’t like favours. Take it.” He continued to hold the watch out to her.  
“It wasn’t a favour. You wouldn’t have lasted the night anyway.”  
“I don’t like favours. Please take it.”  
“No.”  
He shook his head and placed the watch on the table. He looked at her; “Thank you.” He turned and walked out of the kitchen, towards the door. Just before he opened the door, he looked back at her and then walked out, closing the door behind him. Claire just stood and stared at the door. What the fuck had just happened? He was still badly hurt, even though he protested different. She felt a twinge in her gut. She shouldn’t just let him go. He needed to re-cooperate. He could die if he went out on the lake. She knew she couldn’t just let him go. If anything happened to him, it would be on her conscious. 

 

 

She walked over to the window overlooking the dock and watched as Will came into view. He appeared to be walking slightly hunched over and then suddenly she saw him fall over on the ground. She turned around and raced to grab her jacket from the chair, throwing it on and running outside to him. As she approached him, he was on his hands and knees, heaving in pain. She slowly approached him and he turned to look at her. “Go away, I’m fine.” He grunted out, still on his hands and knees. She said nothing, only continued to stare at him. Suddenly, he leaned over the side of the dock and vomited. She knew he was exhausted and had lost a fair amount of blood, he needed to rest. 

She slowly walked closer to him, keeping her stern doctor face on. She wouldn’t be moved on this, she didn’t care what he said or did. He was coming back inside to rest. He finally looked back at her and a look of resignation covered his face. He knew she was right.

 

Claire stood staring out the window, watching the storm. The clouds were getting even darker and the rain continued to fall down hard. It looked like it was here to stay for a while. She heard Will shift on the couch and turned to look at him. He was half-awake on the couch, staring straight at her. She looked down at the floor and bit her lip. She decided to try and ask some questions again. 

“You’re not from around here; I know that,” she said as she walked over towards the fireplace, her arms crossed over her chest. “I’m from Calgary,” he admitted as he sat up on the couch. She nodded. “I really like your place, it’s nice.” he said as he stared at her. She picked up her mug of coffee and walked back towards the window. “It’s been in my dad’s family for a long time, nearly hundred years.”  
“What did you do out west?”  
He smirked and said “A bit of everything, nothing special. I mean its Calgary.” She continued to look out the window, processing this information. He tried to make some kind of conversation with her. “I worked out in the oil sands for a while, didn’t like that very much. So just decided to leave. Needed a change.”

She looked back over at him, “So what brought you out here?”  
“My mom, she grew up outside Collingwood so., She used to take me here when I was a kid,” he said. She watched his face. His face appeared to darken and looked sad when he mentioned his mother. She wondered if she was dead. She sighed and moved towards him, sitting on the end of the couch.  
“Will, who shot you?”  
He sighed and looked up at her through his lashes. She was staring determined at him, she wanted an answer. She knew he probably wouldn’t tell her but she had to try. His answer was not what she wanted to hear. “As soon as it calms down outside, Il be gone I promise,” he sighed. She huffed and got up and walked over to the armchair next to the window. “Fine, good,” she said as she sank into the chair and looked outside. She missed the look he gave her. 

 

She gasped and sat up. Shit, when did she fall asleep? She shook her head to clear the fogginess and looked over at the couch. He was still here and fast asleep. That was when she heard it. It sounded like an engine. A motor boat engine. She got up and walked over to the window. It was Al. What could he want? She grabbed her jacket and threw it on and walked over to the front door, slamming it shut behind her. As she made her way down to the dock, she felt an uneasy feeling come over her. What was he doing here? He had told her it would be two days before he would have her boat fixed. She walked to the top of the hill and watched as he quickly climbed out of the boat and onto the dock.  
“Hey there Claire, how are ya holding up?” he shouted as he tried to reel the boat in and tie it to the dock. “Uh, yeah I’m good. What are you doing here?” she asked as she stayed at the hill. “Well, that storm coming in is getting pretty bad, just rescued two more people stuck out on the water. Damn tourists don’t listen. And I just wanted to call up and check in on you, make sure you had everything you needed.” If this was any other time, she wouldn’t have even thought twice. But his whole demeaner seemed different than when she seen him today. He looked nervous and kept looking all around him, as if searching for something. Or someone. Something was up. “Uh, well, yeah I’m ok. You didn’t need to come the whole way up here. I have the radio.” She said as he tied up the boat to prevent it from drifting off in the stormy waves. “Well, I was worried. Thought nothing of it.” He declared, as he looked up at her. “I wanted to stop by anyway, just wanted to check on the roof, see how it was holding up with this weather.”  
“Why, what’s wrong with the roof?” she asked. This was news to her.  
“Your uncle, he asked me to come by back in January, he said the roof was leaking a little bit. Wanted me to check it out. Got the whole thing patched up.” Claire didn’t know what to say, she had no idea about all of this.  
“Hey, look, Il head off, I didn’t mean to disturb you.” Claire felt guilty. Al had been nothing but nice to her family all the times she had been up here. She knew he had problems, her father told her once about him going to jail for money debt, but he was still a nice man. Just trying to provide for his family.  
“Look, you must be freezing. Come inside for some coffee and then you can head off.” She said as she looked back at the house. Maybe this was a good thing. Al could bring Will back to the mainland. Get him some better medical care.  
“Are you sure, I don’t wanna disturb you.” He said.  
“No, it’s fine, just double check the rope there and IL make you the coffee.”  
“Thanks, so much Claire, Il be right up.” He said as he went to secure the rope more. She turned and ran back to the house. She opened the front door and walked inside, surprised to see Will up and moving around.  
“Hey, do you know that guy?” he said looking panicked.  
“Yeah, I do, he can give us a ride.”  
“No, listen, you cannot let him inside.”  
“Why not? Do you know him?”  
“Claire, you let him inside, we are both dead.” He said staring right into her eyes.  
“What?” she said dumbfounded. What was going on?  
“Ssh, just get rid of him.” He said as he ran towards the stairs to hide. Claire had no idea what was going on. What did Al have to do with this? She didn’t have a chance to react, as she heard the front door open and then Al walked through the door. 

 

Claire talked with Al, on and off. He asked how work at the hospital was going and she enquired about his family. The conversation was pleasant enough, but she felt the air in the room was tense. She watched Al as he looked all around the room. He appeared to be off. He looked slightly on edge. Al stepped forward to accept the mug of coffee that Claire offered to him. He muttered a thanks and then he noticed the medical supplies all lain across the kitchen table. She saw his face change and that’s when she realised that he must be involved somehow with Will. Her instincts told her to ask Al to leave.  
“You had some visitors?” he asked as he pointed to the supplies on the table.  
“Uh yeah I did.” She said vaguely, still not sure if she should tell him about Will.  
“I got a funny call over the radio this afternoon about a man on the run. Have you seen him around here, he’s about about yay high, dirty blonde hair, gunshot wound to the shoulder,” he said looking straight at her. Claire didn’t know what to say. She still didn’t think she could trust Al, he was acting out of character for sure. She noticed he was still staring at her and she knew she needed to answer him.  
“Um, no, no I haven’t,” she answered, trying to lose the nervousness she felt on her face. Al didn’t seem convinced at all and she suddenly felt very nervous. She didn’t like the look on his face, he looked sort of scary she thought. It put her on edge.  
“Uh will you excuse me, I just want to run upstairs for a second.” She said as she sped past him and walked towards the hallway for the stairs.  
“Claire.., I hope you aren’t lying to me, it could prove bad for you in the end” he said with a dark tone in his voice. Claire stopped and turned around to face him.  
“Excuse me?” she said  
“I know he’s here. He’s dangerous Claire. I hope you know what you’re doing. You know he has people after him. He’s in a dangerous position and now he has dragged you into it” he said as he put the mug down on the table and walked towards the door. Claire didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t believe what he had just said. He obviously knew about Will. Maybe he was the one who shot him. 

 

Before she could say anything else, Al turned and walked out the door into the wind. Claire stood frozen for a second. What the fuck had just happened? She heard Will move behind her but she ignored him and rushed over to the window. She watched Al as he unknotted the rope that held both of the boats attached to the dock and she watched as they began to float away. He was planning on leaving them stranded clearly. She couldn’t let this happen. She turned and ran past Will, who stood frozen to the spot, and threw open the door. She ran as fast as possible to the dock, careful to avoid skidding on the wet ground. 

Just as she reached the start of the dock, Al was pulling away in his boat and going as fast as he could. She knew he was definitely in cahoots with whoever was after Will. She tried to grab the rope before it got out of her reach. She felt herself reach too far and she fell face first straight into the water. The cold was the first thing that hit her. The water was so cold. She was frozen solid with the force of it. She tried so hard to stop herself from sinking down to the bottom, but it was fruitless. She could feel her limbs just freeze and she couldn’t stop herself from sinking down. 

Just as she could feel her lungs begin to burn from the lack of oxygen, she could see something coming towards her fast. It looked like a person. Her vision began to become blurry and she couldn’t keep them open any longer. Then she felt something grab her arm hard and she was moving in the water-higher and higher until everything went black…

 

She couldn’t see anything. Everything was black. She tried to open her eyes but it hurt to do it. She could feel a warm hand on the back of her neck and another on her face. They were holding her face and talking to her…..,

“Claire...? Can you hear me? Claire! Open your eyes, c’mon you have to open your eyes. Claire, can you hear me?”

 

She opened her eyes and looked straight at him. He was completely soaked and he was out of breath. He must have dived in for her. He had saved her. She was drowning and she would have been dead right now if it wasn’t for him. He smiled a relieved smile and looked at her. “Jesus, I thought you were gone” he said out of breath. Before she could say anything back, he said “C’mon, we have to get you inside and under the hot water, before we both freeze to death.”  
________________________________________________________________

He carried her back into the house and upstairs to the shower. He placed her down as gently as he could and turned on the hot spray. He felt the temperature for a moment before he beckoned her to get up and he started to strip her clothes off her. Under normal circumstances, Claire would be shocked at his quickness, but they both were dying of the cold slowly and there was really no time to argue.  
She stripped down to her underwear and stepped into the bathtub where the steam from the hot shower looked so inviting. She walked under the spray, feeling the hot water begin to unlock her limbs slowly one by one. She, for no reason, suddenly started laughing and looked over to Will, who was laughing also. Only after the laughter died down, did she notice, he too was stripped down to his boxers and was shirtless. She felt her laughter die on her lips as she watched him. She was breathing heavily and staring at him. His laughter had started to die down and he glanced at her to see she was staring at him. 

They both could have cut the sexual tension with a knife. Here they were, two complete strangers, enclosed together in this small bathtub with a hot spray pouring down on them. Claire could feel her cheeks begin to sear hot and she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. He really was so damn handsome she thought. Never mind that he drove her mad with his stubbornness, he was hot. Plain and simple. He was a man and she was a woman. And here they were, completely alone. In a shower. Both half naked. Just as she was trying to convince herself to lean over and just kiss him, he broke the trance they were both under. 

“Ok, I think I’m warm enough now. I’ll let you finish in peace,” he whispered, as he opened the shower curtain and hopped out, closing it behind him, leaving her standing there in the steam wondering what had just happened. 

 

Claire walked out to her bedroom upstairs and put on some of her warmest clothes she could find. As she sat on the bed to put on her socks, she wondered what had gone wrong in the shower. Did he not find her attractive? Did he have someone somewhere else? Was that why he rejected her? He wasn’t an idiot she knew. He knew as well as she did that there was a huge amount of sexual attraction between them since they first met, so why was he fighting it? He must have someone else waiting on him she thought. She tried to fight the disappointment that curled up in her stomach. 

She put her boots on and walked over to the chest of drawers that contained her father’s old clothes. She grabbed a jumper and a pair of jeans and walked down the stairs to the living room. There he sat, on the rug in front of the fire, which was now roaring. The room was mostly dark except for the fire and one light in the hallway. He seemed to be thinking far away and she approached him quietly. He turned and looked up at her. She moved to sit down next to him. She handed him the clothes and he smiled gratefully at her. He got up and walked up the stairs to change into them. She sat quietly just watching the flames as they moved. She had no idea what was going on. Just a few hours ago, she was relaxing in her house, enjoying the peace and quiet. And now, she was here, in this situation, with a handsome stranger upstairs, nursing a gunshot wound who had potentially dangerous people after him. She had no idea how this all had happened. 

She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of his boots walking quietly back down the stairs. She had no idea what to say to him. She was so confused. She was angry at him and at the same time, she just wanted to jump his bones. She felt his body heat as he came near and sat down beside her. She glanced at him and he glanced at her. She felt an over-whelming urge to thank him.  
“Thank you,” she said quietly as she played with her hands. “You saved me, I would have died if you hadn’t jumped in.”  
“It’s ok, really,” he replied back, staring at the floor. “You saved me first.”  
She noticed out of the corner of her eye, he appeared to be flexing his hand in pain. She leaned over and grabbed his hand. “Did you hurt yourself?” she asked, examining it. It looked slightly swelled. “I’m ok, just banged it a little. I’m ok doc I promise.”  
She continued on examining his hand, lightly pressing on the knuckles to see if it was broken. He flinched slightly but it definitely wasn’t broken. Satisfied, she moved to let go of his hand when she felt him lightly take hold of her fingers. She froze and her eyes shot to his face. He was staring at her.  
“I never properly thanked you for what you did today,” he said quietly.  
“You did thank me,” she whispered as he inched closer to her.  
He didn’t reply, he only continued to look at her. Claire could feel her body begin to react to him. She felt her mouth go dry and she felt like the fire was right on her face. He moved his hand up and lightly pushed back a strand of hair from her face. She couldn’t breathe. She just continued to stare at his face as he stared back at her. What was he doing she thought? He had rejected her upstairs and now he was going to kiss her? As he leaned closer to her, just centimetres from her lips, she pulled away. 

She could feel the confusion and the disappointment radiate from him. She sat back away from him and ran her hand through her hair. He pulled his knees up and rested his elbows on them. She could just feel the question burning between them. “I’m sorry I got you involved in all of this,” he apologised as he sighed and stared at the ground. Suddenly she felt herself get angry. “What are you doing?” she asked him as she sat up, her face becoming red. “Why did you try to kiss me just now?”  
“Well what was that upstairs?” he countered, now also rising to stand. “You wanted to kiss me, didn’t you?”  
“You walked out.”  
“Only because I thought I was making you uncomfortable, you looked that way.”  
“Well I wasn’t, quite the opposite actually.”  
He appeared to be satisfied at her answer. Just as he was about to walk towards her, she asked him the question that was driving her crazy.  
“Seriously, who the hell is after you?”  
Will looked down and placed his head in his hands, she could tell he didn’t want to talk about it but she was sick and tired of not knowing what was going on. She needed answers and now.  
“I have known Al and his family for years, since I was a kid. He’s a nice enough man, why would he strand me here? What have you done to make people chase you all the way out here, to the middle of nowhere?”  
Will appeared to be very uncomfortable but finally he was talking. “It was an accident. A bar fight got out of hand. It was my fault. I did the time…I did all the fucking time!.. But the guys father; he’s not going to stop until he’s killed me.”  
Claire couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How had this extremely messed up situation landed in her lap? It was totally messed and dangerous. And it had absolutely nothing to do with her. She didn’t ask or want to be a part of this. Her life could now be in danger because of him, because she helped him. She could hear the rain continue to fall outside, the noise becoming so loud in the deafening silence between them.  
“He’s dead… you killed him, right?”  
Will didn’t speak, he simply nodded. “Look, I’m sorry I put you in danger, I’m sorry,” he softly spoke as he neared her. Claire felt sick, she could feel her stomach turning. She had no idea what was going on. How did this all happen?  
“This isn’t my fight, this has nothing to do with me, you need to leave ok... you have to go. Get out of my house, just leave.”  
“No, Claire I’m not-“  
“Go now! Get out!” She didn’t want to listen to him at all. He had put her life in serious danger, she had no idea what could happen. Her head was spinning with a million thoughts, she felt suddenly dizzy.  
“I’m not going and leaving you by yourself when you know what’s coming.”  
“I’ll be fine, just go, leave!” Claire didn’t even realise she had done it until it happened, she just reached out and grabbed his wounded shoulder and pressed on it as hard as she could. Will shouted out in pain and fell to the floor, gasping. She stood in the room, in shock at herself. Will was lying on the ground on his knees, gasping in pain. What had she done? She immediately felt bad, she shouldn’t have done that. She leaned over him and place her hand on his shoulder, trying to ease his pain. 

The light outside was fading fast. The rain was falling harder as the minutes ticked by and the thunder still roared on. And there was an unknown man chasing her handsome stranger looking to shoot him and possibly her to death. What a great time to be alive she thought to herself as she finished up cleaning his wound and started to replace the old blooded bandage with a fresh one. Although she was angry at him for putting her in this situation, she still couldn’t excuse away her behaviour previously. She had no right to put her hands on him like that, it was bad form. She felt ridden with guilt when she saw she had broken his wound and he was bleeding again. 

He didn’t get mad at her at all. He hadn’t actually said a word to her since. She figured he was pissed at her and rightly so she thought. She was a doctor, she was supposed to help people, not hurt them. And she had hurt him. She decided to try and apologise and remedy the situation.  
“I um… I’m sorry, that I put my hands on you like that.” she admitted bashfully as she finally worked up the coverage to look at his face. She was surprised to see him staring at her. He watched her face for a moment and then a small smile appeared on his face. She smiled back. She grabbed one of the last pieces of the medical tape and secured it to his bandage. She watched his face as he looked out the window at the storm. Her eyes seemed to zero in on the Emily tattoo on his side rib again. She could feel her curiosity begin to burn and she couldn’t stand not to ask him any longer.  
“You regret that one?” she said as she referenced to his tattoo. Will looked back at her and then down towards the tattoo. His face looked pensive for a moment before he spoke,” I regret most of them, but not that one. It’s my mother’s name.” At this admission, his face appeared sad and he looked out the window again. Claire didn’t know why but she felt the need to comfort him and then before she knew it, her mouth was opening and she was talking about something she had not spoken to anyone before about.  
“You know, I lost my dad last year.” Will looked away from the window and stared at Claire surprised. “He was up here actually, when the accident happened. He hadn’t been up here for a long time, I knew he missed it. He loved the open water more than anything. We used to joke when I was little, that he must have been a fish in a past life.” Will smiled and continued to stare at her. “He called me one day when I was at work, he asked me to come up with him, he said it wouldn’t be the same without me. I couldn’t do it, it was a bad week, the ward was inundated with the people from that building that burned down and I just couldn’t leave. I knew he was so disappointed. I promised him I would go and then I just let him down. It was the week of my mom’s death anniversary, it was always a bad month for him, October. He called me when I was working that evening. The evening it happened. I tried to call him back, but there was no answer. I didn’t know that the accident had already happened at that point. I was on the last hour of my shift when I got the call. I just collapsed.” She didn’t even realise that she was crying until she felt the tears fall down her cheeks. Will moved closer to her and placed his hand on her arm. “I’ve spent the last year, wondering what he was calling me for. Was he calling me for help? Did he call me to say goodbye? Il never know.” Claire began to softly cry as she brought her hand up to her face and tried to wipe away the tears that fell. She didn’t want to cry in front of him.  
“I’m sure he was just calling cause he missed you,” he said as he inched closer to her. “He was your dad, he was going to do what he wanted. You couldn’t have stopped him from going. It was what he wanted. Don’t feel this way, I’m sure he wouldn’t want you to feel this way Claire.”  
Claire sniffed and looked up. Will was staring intensely at her, he reached out a hand and held her face. His thumb reached up and lightly touched her bottom lip. Outside the thunder boomed louder and they were just staring at each other. Claire couldn’t understand the feelings that were swarming around in her head. She wanted him so badly, she didn’t care that she barely knew him or that he had dangerous people after him. She just wanted him. And she knew he wanted her. Something seemed to change in his eyes as he leaned forward and moulded his lips with hers. They kissed each other slowly at first, then the intensity built and they were passionately kissing each other. Claire reached up her hand and held the back of his neck as he deepened the kiss. 

Will moved closer and grabbed her arm lightly, trying to encourage her to sit on his lap. She complied and moved to sit down on top of him. Claire felt a sudden surge of electricity as their bodies moulded together. She held his neck in both of her hands and held on tighter, as Will placed his hands on her hips and held tight. Their mouths continued to fight together for dominance as they started to grind on each other. Claire could feel her body begin to lose control and she couldn’t help but grind her hips into him. All of her sensations were on fire, she moaned out loud. 

Ah she moved one hand down to touch his shoulder, he hissed with pain. She had forgot about his wound for a second. She caressed his neck with her hands, trying to sooth him, she could feel her guilt start to come back, she felt so bad for putting her hands on him like she did, she just wanted to now make it up to him. Will could sense her hesitation and gripped her hips tighter. “It’s ok,” he whispered as he brought his hand up to caress her face and stared at her. “Just let go, it’s ok. Just let go.” Claire could feel her body immediately react to his words, as her body erupted in fire. She completely surrendered to him at his words and truth be told she didn’t want to put up much of a fight anyway, she couldn’t remember the last time she had sex; it had been a long time. She needed this. 

Will’s hands moved down slowly towards her hips, stopping to pause at her breast, his hands moving and caressing slowly, his thumb moving over her nipple thought her shirt, making her squeal out loud. His body reacted to her sounds, his hardness beginning to press tighter in between her legs. He is big she thought to herself, as she continued to grind into his hips slowly. The thunder drowned out most of the sounds she continued to make, as their foreplay started to heat up. Claire could feel her underwear begin to get wetter by the minute and she felt she might burst soon if she didn’t get her release. 

Will seemed to be on the same page as her. “Should we move this to the couch?” he whispered as he nipped at her bottom lip and moved his hands to her ass as he squeezed it. Claire moaned softly and leaned in for a short kiss. “Take me to the couch, Will, please.” She whispered as she grabbed onto his shoulders. Will groaned and squeezed her ass cheeks tighter. He held on to her ass and hoisted her up as he rose from the chair. She wrapped her legs around his waist tighter and held onto his neck as he started to slowly walk towards the living room. Claire’s entire body was on fire and she could feel the tension between her legs get worse as he neared the living room. Will reached the couch and slowly leaned over and laid her down. He sat in between her legs as she laid on the couch. He kissed her once more and leaned back on his hind legs and just stared at her. Her face was flushed, her nipples were hard and showing through her top and her lips were red and swollen from the kissing. 

 

Will reached behind himself and lifted his shirt up from the bottom and lifted it over his head and tossed it somewhere across the room. Claire took in the handsome half-naked man above her. He was so hot she thought to herself, as she took in his broad shoulders, his well-defined abs and the tattoos that littered all around his torso. She reached her hands up and caressed his stomach; moving them down lower and lower until she reached the button of his jeans. She started to undue the button as she could feel him staring at her and watched as his abs contracted with his harsh breathing. She could feel his hardness get even harder as she worked to undue the button if that was possible. Feeling him react to her touch was driving her insane. She needed to him now. 

Claire realised she had far too much clothes on than she liked, so she grabbed the hem of her jumper and raised it up and over her head, leaving her in just her bra. She wasted no time and undid her bra and tossed it aside. She let out a deep breath and watched his face. His eyes took her in. They were almost black and staring at her breasts. Suddenly he leaned back down over her and took her nipple straight into his mouth. All she registered was his warm and wet tongue as he circled it and sucked it back into his mouth. It felt so good. Her insides quaked and she felt a gush of wetness soak her panties in an instant. She moaned loudly and grabbed his hair in her hands. Her mind was completely overtaken by sensations, the sensation of his mouth. His mouth moved from one nipple to the next, switching it up back and forth, driving her crazy slowly with pleasure. He let her nipple slip from his mouth and started to move his mouth down her body, nibbing at her ribs and moving down towards her hips. 

He reached her jeans and came back up for air, glancing at her face and unbuttoning her jeans, slowly pushing them down her legs. Claire could feel her legs trembling as he took them off and sat back. He slipped his hands into the sides of her panties and started to slip them down. She could feel the slickness slide on her legs as he removed the panties and she felt embarrassed for a second, she knew he could now feel it. Instead of him being disgusted like she thought, he held the panties in his hand for a moment and then did something that made her insides completely clench up; he brought the panties up to his face and sniffed them. He breathed in deep and then she saw his face, he looked completely and utterly gorgeous. “You smell so good; I bet you taste even better.” He whispered as he leaned down quickly and slicked his tongue up her clit. Claire was taken completely by surprise and moaned out loudly.  
Her hand shot down to his hair and she ran her hands through it, tightening her grip. His tongue was driving her insane, the way he flicked it over her clit and then slid his tongue all the way up and then down. He was making her sweat and she was going mad. She brought one of her hands up to her mouth to try and stifle some of the moans that were coming out of her, she was being very loud and she knew it. Just as her hand covered her mouth, Will reached up with his hand and grabbed hers, taking it away from her mouth. “Don’t,” he commanded as he stopped his work and looked up at her face. “I want to hear you, you’re driving me insane. Let me hear you.” Claire felt her insides clench wildly and she nodded at him, biting her lip. He smirked at her and moved down, licking his tongue all up her clit. She was already so close and his words just amplified her even more, around and around his words reverberated in her mind and then she could feel it starting, she felt her clit start to tighten up and she felt her wetness start to gush out. “Ah god… I’m, I’m coming…oh my god..” Will kept up his movements, never-stopping and then just like a wave, her orgasm washed over her, beating down on her until all she could register was blind pleasure. He never faltered on his movements, on and on he went until her body was weak and she was too sensitive for any more. He halted and looked up at her. 

She was breathless and sweating, trying to catch her breath and coming down off of a massive high. He sat up and leaned over her, leaning in for a tender kiss. As they pulled apart, she felt herself begin to giggle. “What is it?” he laughed as he watched her. “Nothing, I just really needed that.” She admitted now embarrassed. Will slightly laughed and leaned over to kiss her. They passionately kissed each other for a few moments and then Claire became very aware that she was satisfied and had gotten her release but the handsome man above her still needed a release and she was very aware of his hardness. She needed to help him she thought with a smirk. She could feel how tense he was as she placed her hands on his arms and slid them up. She paused to trace the tattoo that marked his top forearm and then she slid her hand up to his shoulder. “Your turn now.” She whispered as she leaned up and captured his lips. He groaned into the kiss and grabbed her hair as he kissed her back. Claire sat up and leaned out from under him and stood in front of him. She leaned over him and sat down on her knees. Claire could see his chest begin to breath deeper as his breathes came out harsher. She leaned over his crotch and began to pick up from where she was earlier and started to undue his jean button, followed by the zipper. He was still rock hard in his jeans she could feel and she could hear see his eyes were solely focused on her and no one else.  
She rubbed his erection through his jeans, just to tease him a little more and then she reached into his jeans and took a hold of him. She could feel the solid warm heat of his cock as she held it. He was long and thick and for a moment she felt a little uneasy. The last time she had had sex was a long time ago and she worried could she take him. Then she noticed he was still breathing harshly above her and she needed to satisfy him. She grabbed his jeans and encouraged him to lift his bottom up and dragged the jeans out from under him. His cock sprang free when she pulled his jeans off, he was hot and hard and more than ready for her. She wasted no time and brought her lips to the tip of cock and licked up the small drop of pre-cum that sat there. He groaned out loud at the feel of her tongue and lifted his right hand up to thread through her hair as she worked. She worked hard to please him, she knew he needed the release just like she did. “Fuck” he whispered out through gritted teeth, as she licked her tongue all the way up his cock and then brought it straight back down. His abs contracted as he breathed in and out harshly from her movements.

She felt him grow impossibly harder in her mouth and then before she knew it, she was yanked up, sitting in his lap and was face to face with him. She was out of breath and so was he, their chests bumping together as they breathed deep. “Why did you stop me?” she asked as she tried to regain her breath. “I wouldn’t have lasted much longer if I let you go on,” he laughed as he leaned in for a kiss. Claire felt herself giggle and then their kissing sped up again. Claire realised that they both were naked and lying on top of each other. And that they had some unfinished business to attend to. She felt her need just come back like a raging fire and she needed him now. As if he was reading her mind, he leaned back from their kiss and looked her in the eye, asking the unanswered question. Claire simply nodded and leaned back in to kiss him as their bodies heated up. Claire felt him grip her hips and slightly nudge her to sit up and she complied, lifting her hips. She could feel his tip at her heat and she felt herself melt at the sensation, no more teasing, she sank straight down on him. They both moaned in unison as their bodies connected and they both broke apart from the kiss to catch their breath. She felt him grip her hips again and he tried to encourage her to move, the tension was driving them both crazy, they needed friction. 

 

Claire understood his cues and started to move her hips slowly, grinding on him. She could feel herself sweating, the fire in the room making her back feel like it was on fire. She slowly started to move her hips more and more, taking the cues from his moans and his breaths; what he liked and didn’t like. Soon enough, they were both moaning in unison and all that could be heard in the room was their breaths and the sound of skin on skin. They were both driving themselves crazy with lust and pleasure and they both knew they wouldn’t be able to last much longer. Claire continued to kiss him madly, their lips fighting for dominance over each other as their movements drew even more towards their end, they could both feel it coming. “Are you close?” he whispered as he leaned back and was millimetres from her mouth, their breathes mingling together as they both moaned. “Oh god, yes. Yes.” She whispered as her head fell back and she let the sensation completely take her over, blinding out everything else. She felt her lower body begin to clench up and then she felt it starting… “I’m coming.” she whispered as she leaned her head back up and looked at his face. He was in utter bliss just like her, his eyes told her he was almost there too. She was riding a wave and she didn’t know how long she was on it but then she felt herself being lifted up and then she was her back and Will was driving into her with utter force, just trying to reach his own end. His back was hot and sweaty and he was breathing harshly as his body radiated pure pleasure and she could feel the wave coming back purely from him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and put her lips to his ear, determined to get him there. “That’s it, you’re so good. Yes. Nice and tight, isn’t it? That’s it, oh my god…” Claire could feel his manhood become even harder and then she felt his back draw up and he groaned out loud, pure guttural sound and then she felt the wave completely wash over her again, shaking her to the core and she became aware of him kissing her neck. She let her legs fall down by his side and then she blacked out…

 

Claire came too when she felt something press against her forehead. She leaned into the sensation, it providing comfort to her. She slightly opened her eyes and became aware that she was leaning into a big warm body and she was clearly naked. Her legs were tangled with his, her arm was lain across his chest and her head was leaning against his chest. He had his hand tangled in her hair and his left hand was covering hers on his chest, their fingers intertwined. She felt a slightly chill come over her and she felt herself involuntarily lean into his body. “Hey.” he whispered as he leaned down to look at her. She opened her eyes a little more and leaned up to look at his face. “Hi,” she whispered shyly biting her lip. “Did I pass out?”  
“Yeah, you’ve been out for a while,” he said slightly laughing. “You kind of just passed out under me, so I left you. You looked like you needed the rest.”  
Claire felt slightly embarrassed as she wiped some sleep from her eyes, she didn’t mean to just pass out after they had sex. She didn’t realise just how tired she was until the orgasms just knocked her out. Working as a doctor meant sleep became a second thought for her, she had to dedicate her hours to helping others. He had completely knocked her out. Claire came out of her thoughts as she felt his fingers trace up her arm, then towards her face. “Your quiet, what are you thinking about?”  
“Nothing, just thinking about sleep.”  
Will didn’t reply, he simply just smiled at her and looked down at their hands. She took a moment to just look at his face. He looked satisfied, guess that’s what happens when you get some she thought. He turned and gazed down at her and she felt the air change. His eyes looked hesitant, like he was about to say something he didn’t want to. “It’s getting dark, we better get up and start getting ready. They could be here soon.” He said as he stared at her face. Claire felt the blissful feeling she had earlier, disappear like a puff of smoke. The reality of their situation hit her full force and she realised they could be in for a long night ahead, one where they might be fighting for their lives. She absolutely dreaded having to get up and leave the little safe cocoon they had created in the living room; his arms were so strong and warm, she didn’t want to get up. She let her head fall back down and lay on his chest. His lips came to her forehead and she felt him take a deep breath. “Can I tell you something?” he whispered. Claire hummed. “I am really so sorry to have gotten you messed up in all of this; but I don’t regret it. Cause otherwise I wouldn’t have met you.” She lifted her head up and looked at his face and spoke; “I don’t regret it either. I’m glad I met you.” She bit her lip and debated talking on further but she hesitated, she wasn’t sure if she should speak her mind with him or not, she felt unsure of her position with him. Luckily, he seemed to notice her hesitation and spoke for her. “Maybe after all of this; if we make it out alive. Maybe we could go for dinner or coffee sometime, if you want to.” He looked up at the ceiling as he spoke, obviously afraid of her answer. Claire felt a nervous excited feeling unfold in her stomach and she tried to reign it in, she didn’t want to come across as a psycho to him. “I would really like that; a lot.” She said turning to look up at him. He looked down at her and smiled and leaned down to kiss her. They laid there for a few more minutes, kissing and cuddling until they had to bet up and prepare for the unknown danger that awaited them. 

 

Claire splashed the cold water on her face and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She studied her face; her cheeks looked flushed and her curls were slightly bunched up from the sex. Her eyes looked bright for the first time in ages and she enjoyed it. It was all because of him. He was breathing life back into her. Although she was afraid of what could happen, she firmly believed that they both would make it out of this situation alive and move onwards. She dragged herself from her thoughts and wiped her face. She made her way out of the bathroom downstairs and went to go and find Will; who was standing at the front door staring out at the storm. She approached him and they both locked eyes.  
“How far is the marina?” he asked still staring out.  
“About forty-five minutes, maybe more with this storm.”  
“In this storm, how long could it take?”  
“Well, up here in these kind of storms, it’s like open water, it’s like being out on the ocean.”  
“Alright so, like an hour or hour or a half?”  
“Yeah maybe, or never,” she mildly joked. He didn’t return the smile, he was tense she could see.  
“Alright what?” she asked staring at him confused.  
“Well, its gonna take him an hour to get back to land, until he finds his boss and then comes back, that could take three hours, or roundabouts.”  
“How many bullets you got?” he said looking at her. Claire just looked at him and tried to remember. She tried to scan her memories and see where they’re could be bullets left around. She turned on her heel and ran upstairs to the master bedroom and opened the cabinets to search for them. She managed to find three more bullets, but that was all. There must be more she thought to herself, her father always kept bullets lying around. Suddenly she realised that she knew where he kept bullets. In his office. 

She opened the old wooden door to the office downstairs and held her breath as she slowly opened the door. She peeked in through the slit in the door and slowly walked in. She couldn’t remember the last time she was in his office, it must have been years before. She could smell him everywhere. His scent was all over the room, everything she could see had his scent on it. She took a deep breath and tried to steady her breathing, she could feel her eyes begin to sting with unshed tears and she thought her heart would rip in half. She knew she had to confront his room sooner or later but she didn’t expect smelling his old scent to have this kind of effect on her. Just as she felt she couldn’t stand being in the room any longer, she felt a hand touch her shoulder and then a warm hand touch the back of her neck. “Hey, you ok?” he asked. “Yeah, I’m ok.” She whispered as she tried to regain her composure. She wiped her tears away with her sleeve and turned around and walked out. She could hear him rooting around in the room through the drawers, trying to find some bullets.  
She walked out to the living room and sat down on the couch, grabbing the gun and staring to load the bullets in that she found upstairs. She heard Will leave the room and then he was in the living room with her. “Can they attack us from behind? What’s the deal with those mountains?”  
“Impossible, that’s seer solid rock-thirty feet high, not gonna happen. We don’t need to worry about the back, we need to worry about attacks from the front, cause if they come ashore, we’re in trouble.”  
“How long have you known that guy?” he asked.  
“Al? I’ve known him for years; his family have known mine since I was a kid. He’s been in and out of jail for years.”  
“So, he knows the area?”  
“Yeah of course he knows, we only ever came up here for weekend trips; he’s lived here his whole life.”  
“How good are you with that thing?” he said as he gestured towards the gun she was holding.  
“I’m good.” She said with her eyebrows raised and harshly pushing the chamber into the gun. He smirked at her and looked down. “How about you make us some coffee” she asked, trying to settle both of their edges. They both were on edge because of this whole situation. She sat up and as she walked past him, she grabbed his hand and squeezed it as she walked past. 

 

Claire closed the door behind her and walked down the steps to the dock. The rain continued to fall down hard and the wind grew even stronger. She approached the dock and stared at it. She decided that they needed to make a stance and try to protect themselves as best they could. She turned and headed towards the small shed that lay beside the dock. It was filled with garden tools, scissors, spades and an axe. All of these could be used as weapons against them, they needed to go. She ran up and grabbed the wheelbarrow from the side of the house and filled it with the garden tools and wheeled it down to the dock. She started to throw the tools into the water when she heard Will come up from behind her. “Wait, what are you doing?! We could use those!” he shouted over the loud rain.  
“We have the gun, we don’t need these. They’ll just use them against us.”  
“Let me have the crowbar at least!” he said as he grabbed it from the wheelbarrow.  
“We got to do something about this dock!” he shouted as they both moved back from the dock onto the shore. They both walked back to the house and went inside. Will tried the lights and said that they were out. Claire knew better, the fuses in the house were old, they were always blowing out. She grabbed the electric screwdriver under the sink and walked back outside to the dock and began unscrewing it. Will walked out and helped her to kick it free from the hinges, she fell to the ground from the impact of setting it free. He helped her back up and they both watched the dock float away. 

 

They both stood at the front window and watched the storm continue to rage on. The rain continued to pound against the window and the lightening flashed across the sky. They both had barely said any words since they had come back inside. The silence was beginning to drive her insane, she needed to hear reassurance from him.  
“Maybe they won’t make it” she said staring out at the storm worried.  
“Yeah maybe, it is pretty bad.”  
“I hope they won’t.”  
Will turned to look at her and noticed her face contorted with worry, she was terrified and trying to hide it, she didn’t want to appear weak to him. He felt his stomach twist slightly. “You alright?” he asked as he approached her and held her face in his hands. She didn’t answer him immediately, she searched his eyes for a moment before answering. “I’ll be ok,” she whispered, her voice slightly shaking as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She needed to get it together, he may need her later and she didn’t want to collapse on him. “Everything will be ok, I promise.” He said as he held her face tighter, encouraging her to open her eyes and look at him. “I know we’re both scared right now, but I know things will work out. We’ll both be ok.” He leant forward and their foreheads touched. She bit her lip and opened her eyes to look at him. He was swallowing hard and looking at her. She didn’t reply to him, she simply leaned forward and kissed him. They stood there and just kissed, they both needed the comfort for a few minutes. They finally broke apart when they both needed air and Will tried to lighten the mood and distract her from the oncoming danger. “You wanna do it again?” he spoke out low, his voice going rough staring at her. Claire felt her lower region light up and she simply nodded at him as their lips connected again. 

 

They both sat on the couch as they slowly got dressed. Their lovemaking had been a quick affair, neither one of them patient or wanting to take their time. As soon as he spoke those words in that voice, she was putty in his hands. They both started ripping each other’s clothes off and ended up doing it over the back of the couch, most of their clothes still on them. It was animalistic and quick but just as satisfying as the first time. They both needed the release, the tension driving them insane. After they had dressed, they both sat back on the couch and he simply held her as she leaned into him. She leant against his chest, listening to his chest as his heart tried to slow back down. “What’s your favourite game?” She asked as they listened to the rain fall outside. She wanted to get to know him better and rather than sit in silence, she figured she could ask some questions about his life. “Uh, let me think…. Maybe scrabble?”  
“Really?” she laughed. She didn’t expect that answer at all. He didn’t seem the type to play mind games like that one.  
“Yeah, it’s one of my favourites. My brother and I used to play all the time when we were kids. He loved it.”  
She noticed how a shadow fell over his face as he spoke of his brother. He looked down at the ground and she felt the urge to ask him.  
“Were you close?” she asked as she watched his face. He continued to look down at the floor, until he finally looked up at her and shrugged his shoulders; “Yeah, we were.” He appeared to look sad and she couldn’t figure out why. She could sense he wanted to say something so she kept quiet and watched his face.  
“You know it’s funny; you always think you can just turn it around. Like no matter what you can walk it back, but you can’t. I know you know that,” he said as he watched her face. She looked at him and then down at his chest. She totally agreed with him. She did know that. She knew all about thinking there was always all the time in the world, until it runs out. “But there’s this other part of you that knows you gotta get on with it. You never forget about it-you never forget-but you gotta get on with it. You just decide that this awful thing- you make it count. From here on out; you make it count.” Claire felt the words she had die in her throat. She wasn’t expecting that from him at all. His words were so profound, they hit her deep. He had just verbalized everything she had needed to say to herself without her having to say it. She knew she couldn’t change the past, what was done is done. She knew her father wouldn’t want her to feel this way. He would want her to be happy. She realised she and Will were both still grieving for people they had lost and that they both needed to help each other. She leaned up and placed her hand on his face. She waited until he met her eyes and she leaned up and kissed him. 

________________________________________________________________

They both stood at the window and stared out. The storm appeared to be getting worse and they both started to hope against hope that maybe these dangerous men wouldn’t make it to the island. As she stood next to him she glanced over at him, he appeared to be a million miles away. He looked deep in thought and she didn’t want to disturb him. She had no idea he was remembering back to when he had seen his stepfather last, in that small café in Georgian Bay. They hadn’t seen each other since the accident. Since the accident that had changed everything and had turned the father and son against each other. Their reunion had been awkward and tense, they both knew why he was there. He had been waiting for him to get out of prison. It didn’t matter that Will had ran from Alberta as soon as he was released, he knew it was just a matter of time until he found him and now he had. They both indulged in some old talk, forgetting for a minute about their situation and then she was brought up and the conversation changed. Will wasn’t a fool, he knew no matter what he said, he wouldn’t stop until he was dead. It was just a matter of time. 

 

Then they heard it. The sound they both had been dreading; the sound of an engine. They both ran over to the window and watched as they seen a light in the water, coming closer to them. She reached her hand over and intertwined her fingers with his. He gripped her hand back, trying to provide some reassurance to her. She could feel her heart begin to pound and her palms became sweaty when the weight of the gun in her hand seemed to become heavier. She became suddenly aware of the danger of their situation. “Will, I’m scared.” She whispered as she gripped his hand tighter. “I’m scared too.” He whispered. She glanced at his face and tried to find some comfort from him. Suddenly she saw a flash of white sprint across her eyes, blinding her for a moment. She looked out the window and could see the boat approaching the house.  
“Shit they found us!” Will said as he turned and ran from the room, her following after him. He grabbed her jacket and threw it at her. He told her to put it on, they were going to go outside and split up and then when she got a good shot, she would shoot him from afar. It would improve their chances of survival he said. She didn’t know what to do so she followed his lead. He grabbed the crowbar he had left on the counter and opened the back door stepping outside with her right behind him. Just before they broke apart, he grabbed her face and kissed her hard. “Trust me.” He said as they kissed one last time and they separated. He ran to the left of the house and she ran to the right, over to the side woods and waited. She walked over to the tree and waited. She saw Will come around from the left of her and then he was only across from her, hiding behind another tree. She peeked out from behind the tree and saw the boat approaching the land. She took a deep breath and tried to calm her breathing. A bright light shone straight on them and she sank back. It was the light from the pole, it only turns on when movement is nearby. Then she saw the two men who she was afraid to see, appear from the dark and in her line of sight. Will sat up and looked over at her and made a movement with his hands. She took a deep breath and aimed the gun on the two men who were slowly approaching them. She continued to aim at them, her hands shaking and then she lost her gut, she just couldn’t do it. She sank back against the tree and she heard Will swear. He gestured to her and they both ran away from the approaching men.  
They approached the house and instead of going inside, they both ran past it and went around the other side of the house. Will reached out and grabbed her arm and told her she needed to run in the other direction to him, they needed to separate to survive. She protested saying that she couldn’t protect him if they did but he wouldn’t hear any of it. He told her to go and hide and she did. He ran off in the opposite direction and she ran up towards the hill to hide in the bushes. Claire hid in the bushes and just waited. Waited for the sound of someone approaching. Waited for the sound of anything. She was crouched down in the bushes and then she heard it, the sound of footsteps. She felt her heart beating out of her chest and her hands started shaking again like mad. She held the gun tighter in her hands and tried to peek through the branches to see if she could see who it was. That’s when she heard the footsteps stop and then she realised it wasn’t Will, it must be one of the men who were after him. It had to be, he would have called out for her if it was Will. She slowly walked out of the branches and had the gun ready in her hands to shoot whoever was there, when she got smacked in the face and everything went black. 

 

She came to when she felt herself floating. She wasn’t walking or running, she was being carried. She felt strong cold hands holding her and carrying her back to the house. She woke up fully when she felt herself being put down and then she was aware of her surroundings. She was just outside her house, and some stranger had picked her up and placed her down outside her front door. “You alright there?” the stranger asked in a cockney British accent that sounded so out of place there. She didn’t reply, she got up and felt her head become slightly woozy. She reached out and grabbed the railing to steady herself. She saw him reach out to touch her and she flinched away. “I’m not gonna hurt you again alright love?” he said watching her closely.  
“Where’s my gun?” She asked as she scanned her surroundings to see if she could locate it. That’s when she saw it in his hands. He was holding her gun. Her father’s gun. “That’s mine, that’s my gun.” She gritted out through her teeth, her head beginning to hurt where he had wacked her. “Now now sweetheart, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here alright? I’m gonna hold the gun, cause I don’t want you to do something stupid.” He said as he gripped the gun harder in his hands. Claire had no idea what to do. She didn’t know this guy from Adam, she knew he was obviously dangerous and she knew he could overpower her, he was bigger and stronger than her. She tried to think through the hazy fog that infiltrated her head, she couldn’t think straight at all.  
“Hey, look I can see your head spinning from here. I’m gonna make it easy on ya love, let’s just go on inside and we can wait until he decides to show his face. I can guess that won’t be long.”  
She had no idea what to do. She didn’t know where Will was or Al for that matter. She didn’t want to go anywhere alone with this man, but she needed to check her head, she could feel blood dripping down the side of her head and the storm was still raging, she needed shelter. Against her better judgment, she turned and walked towards the front door and went inside. She could hear the stranger walk in behind her and she tried to calm down. She knew being in the kitchen was the best option, there were plenty of knives in there to defend herself with in case the man turned. “Well, this is nice,” he observed as he stared around the room. “I could get used to this.”  
Claire made a huff and walked towards the kitchen. As he approached the kitchen table, he heard him unlock the gun and then cock it as a bullet shell went flying out of it. “I’m Tom,” he said as he placed the gun down on the table and turned towards her. He stared at her expectedly and she said her name.  
“I’m sorry you got caught up in all of this,” he said as he looked at the ground. Claire didn’t reply to him, she simply nodded at him. He looked around the house and started to walk away as he approached the pictures on the wall. “Well, this one’s a nice one. This your dad?” he asked pointing at a picture of her and her dad out fishing. Claire nodded her head when he looked back at her for a reply.  
“He a good man?”  
“I think so.” She replied looking for a towel and placing it on her head to stem the bleed from her wound. He turned and headed back towards her in the kitchen. “You got any coffee?” She wanted to say something back to him but instead of pissing this man off, she simply walked to the kitchen and got a mug to pour some coffee for him. She had no idea how crazy this man was, or what he was capable of. She was better to test him out first and see what he did.  
“So, what are you doing out here all alone anyway.” He asked as he followed her around the kitchen. “Peace and quiet.” she huffed out clearly annoyed. He snorted in reply to her answer. “Well, I can’t understand that at all; I’m a city boy myself. Thirty fucking years, really starts to weigh you down. It’s become so uncivilised. You know what I mean? Thank you” he replied as she handed him the mug of coffee. She leant against the counter and watched as he drank from the mug. He made a sound of approval and looked at her.  
“He’s gonna die tonight; Will. He’s going to die tonight. I mean we’re all going to die tonight, but him, he’s going to die tonight. That’s funny, don’t you think?” Claire didn’t reply to him, she didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t believe what this man was saying to her. She had no idea what he was capable of but she knew one thing for sure; Will wasn’t going to die tonight. He was. She would make sure of it. Even if she died herself.  
“I mean its strange knowing it, aint it? Like you wake up in the morning and you go about your day and then nothing. You know it.” He walked away from the counter and she took moment to steady herself. She was trying to mentally prepare herself for what was coming, she knew something big was going to happen. She was trying so hard to keep her shit together. “He’s nothing like me and I was proud of that. I mean, he was always a bit timid, you know a bit fearful. He was sweet really. He always took people at their word, he was uh, a real literal boy. He was always mixed up in something, roofing, brick-laying, all over Calgary.”  
Suddenly the front door flew open and Al was in the hallway. “Hey there Claire,” he said as he shook some of the water off of himself. She didn’t reply, she simply glared at him and then looked away. “I’m not gonna find him by myself out there,” he said as entered the room further. “I need help out there- “  
BANG!  
Claire flinched and watched as Tom shot Al point blank in the head. He walked towards him and stood over his body. Claire stood frozen to the spot. She couldn’t believe what had just happened, he had just shot a man point blank in the face and not even flinched. She felt herself release a breath she didn’t even realise she had been holding and sank back against the island in the kitchen. Tom walked towards the front door and shut it closed. “He’s probably on his way back to me now anyways,” he said as he closed the door and bent down to retrieve the gun that Al had been carrying. “You know people go through their lives and get taken for granted, don’t they? I mean, everything is going to be fine and you can only fall so far, and someone will be there to catch ya; I never had that luxury. I always knew it was possible to fall; and to keep falling. People like you and me can’t afford to make a single mistake. It’s true that-alright?” he said as she felt her eyes begin to sting with unshed tears. He walked away towards the kitchen table.  
“I always wanted to be a dad, which is fucking ridiculous, when I think about it. You know I looked forward to it, and I fucking loved Will,” He said as he pulled out a chair and sat down. “I fucking loved him like he was one of my own. I took him in when he was, what, ten years old. Ten years old. And I raised him up. I thought it was a good thing, like it would be good for Chris to have a older brother, someone to look up to, a good influence. You know, and I mean, he was an angry little fucker you know? But I loved him. I fucking loved him. And I loved his mum and when she died, he had no one else, so I just took him in and raised him up. He was a lot like me really; hard as fucking nails. But he was supposed to look after my Chris and do you know what he done? Tom sat up from the kitchen table and walked towards her. She could sense that he was getting angry and she felt very uneasy around him. “Do ya know what he fucking done instead, he killed him. He fucking killed him! And I don’t care what fucking storey Will told you, whatever bullshit he said, my Chris, would fucking never ever put his fucking hands on a woman. Claire tried to process the information that Tom had just revealed. So, the guy that Will had killed was his brother. His brother who had possibly put his hands on, what his girlfriend? Or Will’s girlfriend? She didn’t understand what was going on. No matter what Tom said though, she couldn’t shake the feeling she got with Will. He only made her feel safe, he never made her feel unsafe or afraid of him once since she had met him. She didn’t doubt that Tom was grieving his son and maybe he blind to his son’s actions, maybe he didn’t want to believe his son was capable of something horrible like that. Tom could sense she wasn’t on board with him.  
“You sleeping with him, aint ya?” he said matter of fact. It wasn’t a question, she could tell he knew what had happened between them.  
“That’s none of your business,” she finally gritted out as the seconds rolled on.  
“Yeah, I knew it. I knew it the second I saw ya, outside. He has that effect on women. That’s one thing Will has never had a problem with; getting women. One of the reasons why him and Chris were so inseparable as teenagers, Will always had girls around; coming and going. I thought it was a good thing-for Chris. I wanted him to be a man. Will always looked after that. You’re a pretty girl, I’m not surprised he got you.  
Claire felt herself het angry and she didn’t try to hide it on her face. Who the hell was he to talk to her this way? Like she was some common whore on the street, Will had picked up. She could feel her face getting red and she looked up to find Tom staring at her. She faced him head on and set her jaw. She didn’t give two fucks if he knew she was fucking his step son, she was an adult. She could fuck who she wanted. “You know, I’ve had enough of this,” he snapped as he left the room and started walking towards the front door. He grabbed the gun that laid on the table and walked out the front door. Claire stood frozen in shock. He was leaving to kill Will. And she had to stop him. She couldn’t just let him go out and do that. She ran over to the window and watched as Will came into view and was running towards the steps that lead to the front door. She watched in slow motion as Will approached the door and stopped when he saw Tom standing beside it. She turned around and scanned the room, trying to find something that could stop Tom. That’s when she noticed the bullet shell lying on the ground and her father’s gun sitting on the table. She had one bullet. And one was all she needed. She grabbed the bullet and loaded it into the hatch on the gun. She cocked it and it was ready to go. She could feel her nerves suddenly settle; she knew what she had to do. She had to kill Tom. She had too; otherwise he would kill Will. She walked quickly out to the front porch and watched in slow motion as she heard Tom say he was sorry to Will and point his gun towards him. She didn’t even think-she just aimed and fired. The shot was so loud-it rang out and Tom went down. She didn’t breathe for a second as the smoke from the shot cleared and she saw Will’s shocked face staring at her. She finally exhaled her breath and dropped the gun on the ground. Will continued to stare at her shocked until he walked around Tom’s dead body and walked up towards her and pulled her into a hug. She felt a huge sob break through and she collapsed in Will’s arms, trying to steady herself. She felt him hold on to her tighter and whispered something into her ear but she couldn’t make it out. Everything around her was buzzing. The only thing she could feel was his arms around her and his breath beside her ear. All she could think was that she was alive and so was he. They both had survived. They both were going to be ok. In the distance, she could hear an engine approaching. 

 

“Honey, are you sure you’re alright? That doc wanted to check you out a little more,” she could hear her uncle say to her as she signed her name on the discharge papers from the hospital. “No, like I said, I’m ok. Really, I’m fine. I don’t need to stay, they already gave me a few stiches, Il be fine okay.” Claire grabbed the jacket she had brought with her and put it on. She could feel herself start to get a bit irritated, she just wanted to leave the hospital. She wanted to see Will, he had been brought away to a separate room by the police. They had wanted to talk with him away from her. Probably just to check their stories matched she presumed. She didn’t want to question police work. She heard her uncle sigh from behind her and she felt bad. She knew he must be feeling guilty, he had been the one to let her go up to the cabin alone, he must be feeling responsible. It wasn’t his fault in the least, but she knew what he was like, he would blame himself.  
She turned and looked at his face, he looked tired she thought. “Uncle Pete, I am okay seriously. This wasn’t your fault, so please, don’t blame yourself. I’m alive.” Her uncle sighed and got up from his chair and walked towards her. He didn’t say anything, he simply wrapped his arms around her in a slightly awkward hug. She felt tears come to her eyes and she wrapped her arms delicately around his middle, he hadn’t hugged her since she was a child. She didn’t realise she needed the comfort until he hugged her. She pulled away after a few minutes and then he leaned back. “Alright girl, you ready to head out?” she watched his face, his eyes looked slightly wet but then it was gone just as quick. “Yeah, I am. Definitely.”  
As she left the room and approached the front desk in the ward, she wanted to see Will before she left. She approached the desk and inquired about what room he was in. The nurse at the reception complied and began clicking away on the computer for a few seconds. Finally, after what felt like forever, the nurse looked up at her and spoke. “I’m sorry ma’am, that gentleman has already been discharged.” Claire felt her stomach drop. He had left. He had just left and not even came to see her. She could feel her uncle steeping around her from behind and she could sense the confusion on his face. “H-how long ago did he get discharged?” she felt herself ask as her tried to hide her voice from shaking. She dreaded the answer. “Uh, it says here about an hour ago he was discharged.” She felt her stomach completely drop and her heart rate sped up. She couldn’t actually believe that he had just left. He didn’t even say goodbye. “Are you okay ma’am? She could hear the nurse say to her. She couldn’t imagine what her face looked like, probably white as a ghost. She simply nodded at the nurse and turned and walked out of the hospital. She needed some fresh air. She could feel her uncle walking confused and concerned behind her but she didn’t want to talk just yet. She just needed to get away from the hospital and Georgian Bay. She pushed the door open and walked outside. The storm from yesterday had cleared and she was so glad to see the sunlight back. 

She just stood in the sun and enjoyed it for a second. “Alright kiddo, c’mon, Sam’s got chops on for dinner. We can eat and watch the game later; the Stampeders are playing. Should be a good game.” He said trying to lighten the mood. She didn’t say anything, she just simply nodded at him as he walked on ahead with some of her belongings. She walked behind him slowly and for whatever reason, she looked up and then she saw him; will. He was across the parking lot, standing next to a big truck. She froze for a second and didn’t know what to do. He just stared at her and she knew she had to go over. She turned and headed over towards him. She slowed down as she approached him and put her hands in her pockets. The air between them was very awkward. She had no idea where she stood with him, she thought when they left the island, they were together. But then he left the hospital and didn’t even tell her. He had just left and now she had no idea what would happen between them. She glanced up at him and he was staring at her face. “You just left,” she heard herself say out loud. He hummed and glanced out at the lake. “Well, I needed to get a truck and get some money out, I was coming back.” He said as he looked at her face. “Did you think I would just leave?” he said to her as she stared at the ground. She refused to meet his eyes, she had no idea what he was going to say next and she didn’t want to cry in front of him.  
“Look, I just wanted to thank you before you left,” she said. “I didn’t want to leave without knowing that I had said that to you. I’m sorry about everything.” She sniffed and turned to walk away. She knew he obviously was leaving town and she didn’t want to have to listen to him give her the brush off. Just as she had taken a few steps, she felt him touch her arm and swing her around to look him in the eye. “I don’t want you to leave. I wasn’t leaving you Claire. I went to get you and the nurse said that the doctor was in with you and that I had to wait. So, I went and got a few things handled here before I left. I wanted to see you. I was hoping you would leave with me.” he admitted bashfully as he stared at her. She was completely taken aback. She had no idea he wanted this. He continued to stare at her; he was waiting for an answer. Claire was at a loss for words.  
“I, uh…, I…” she couldn’t even form words, her mind was completely fired. All of the events of the last few hours had caught up with her.  
“Look, I know we just met and I’m not stupid. I know I don’t have much to offer you Claire, but I want to be with you. What you did for me last night, that was… I can’t even say what it meant. You saved my life twice. No matter what happens, Il always be thankful to you for that. But it goes beyond that. I barely know you, but I’m already crazy about you. I don’t want this to be the end; here. I know you have a life back in Toronto. But I want you to come with me. I want to be with you Claire.” He took a deep breath and stared at her eyes. She didn’t even know she was crying until she felt the tear fall down. She felt herself take a shaky breath and she grabbed onto his neck as she looked up at his face.  
“Will you leave with me, Claire?”  
Claire didn’t answer him, she simply leant up and kissed him passionately. He kissed her back just as hard. She had no idea what was going to happen but she knew she had him.


End file.
